It’s been a while since I had a non-chocolate recipe on BoB. Personally, I don’t think there’s any such thing as too much chocolate, but maybe variety isn’t such a bad thing, either.
Granted, this cake does have a bit of white chocolate in it, but I don’t count that. White chocolate is an entirely different entity in my book. In fact, I’m not normally a big fan of the stuff. It’s usually far too sweet for my liking. (Did I really just type that?!?) If any recipe can make me change my mind, it’s this one.
I found this recipe while flipping through Christmas With Southern Living 2005. I have no idea how I skipped over it back then. Having made and tasted this cake, I am so sad for my past self that it took me four years to get around to making it.
You can tell by the photos that this three-layer cake looks suspiciously like a two-layer cake. Honestly, that’s what happens when one layer doesn’t quite turn out the way you want. That turned out to be a good thing. Quinn, the official froster of the BoB kitchen, thinks that making the frosting cover an extra layer would have been a challenge.
I must say that this cake is fabulous. It is definitely near the top of my list of favorite cakes. The white chocolate is not overpowering. The cake is just right. And that frosting! I could be happy with a shot of that for dessert any time.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 & 1/4 cups coarsely chopped pecans
- 11 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 16 ounces powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 ounces white chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 cups sifted cake flour
- toasted pecan halves for garnishing, if desired
Instructions
To make the frosting:
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Add pecans and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until toasted – about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.
Beat cream cheese and 1/2 cup butter at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Stir in buttered pecans and vanilla. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.
To make the cake:
Place white chocolate in a bowl and pour boiling water over it, stirring until smooth. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans and line with wax paper. Grease and flour wax paper.
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in melted white chocolate and vanilla.
Combine buttermilk and baking soda. Add flour to butter mixture, alternating with buttermilk mixture. Begin and end with flour. Mix at low speed after each addition until blended.
Beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Gently fold into batter. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Then, remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
Spread frosting between layers and on the top and sides of cake. Garnish, if desired.
Store in refrigerator.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Christmas with Southern Living 2005.
This is indeed a 3-layer cake, despite the fact that I only used 2 layers. That just made for a higher frosting to cake ratio!
January 29th, 2010 at 10:00 am
wow, this looks great. I love butter pecan, and the white chocolate sounds like an interesting twist.
January 29th, 2010 at 11:54 am
O-M-G!! You have the greatest desserts. I wish I could try every single one of them.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Yum. How did you know that butter pecan is one of my favorite flavors?
January 29th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I need taste-o-vision on my computer. And/or a napkin to wipe the drool! =)
January 29th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Love the texture.
January 29th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
This looks beautiful. I love just about everything in it. Totally bookmarked and hopefully going to be made within the next four years
January 29th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Wowza! That cake looks crazy good. I love Southern Living, and the cake definitely looks like a SL cake. It’s gorgeous, and it looks sinfully rich.
January 30th, 2010 at 12:01 am
Mmm, that looks delcious! I want!
January 30th, 2010 at 1:40 am
Desde hace un mes no tenía receta nueva tuya. Esta tiene un pinta estupenda. Gracias
January 30th, 2010 at 11:39 am
This sounds delicious and the perfect break from chocolate. I can’t wait to try it.
January 31st, 2010 at 4:16 am
Oh yum delicious. I love a variant from chocolate in cakes, and this seems just the perfect thing. It’s gorgeous looking too!
January 31st, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Sounds seriously delicious….
January 31st, 2010 at 6:17 pm
It’s beautiful and perfectly wintery looking. Glad to see you back! I always love your recipes.
January 31st, 2010 at 11:56 pm
The cake looks super moist and soft. Share please!
February 1st, 2010 at 7:30 am
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I made it this weekend for my in-laws. They loved it! Thanks for making me look like a baking superstar!
February 1st, 2010 at 5:54 pm
I really hear you that one can never have too much chocolate. But if you’re not going to have chocolate, you might as well have butter pecan…this cake looks completely magnificent and flavourful. One to bookmark for sure.
February 1st, 2010 at 6:26 pm
This cake looks to DIE FOR! It is so nice to see a post from you again! I have to admit… I missed them (: You’re my fav food blog (shh don’t tell!)
February 1st, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Looks so yummy I can hardly stand it!! Can’t wait to try!!!
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I’m look at as many food blogs as I can looking for a good dessert for chef test I have on Friday. There’s some great ideas in here!
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:30 pm
This looks insanely delicious. I’m yet to venture into two-layer cakes, let alone three, but think this is the one to break me in!
February 4th, 2010 at 8:26 am
Looks amazing, nice woork!!!!
February 8th, 2010 at 10:21 am
I tried this recipe on the weekend, but made a last minute decision to do cupcakes instead (Superbowl party so they were easier to eat). While the end result was delicious, I unfortunately thought I could get away without using cupcake wrappers – not a good idea. The cake itself is super delicate and fluffy which made it very difficult to remove from the cupcake pan. I’d definitely make it again, except either as a cake (in a well lined pan) or with cupcake wrappers.
February 8th, 2010 at 11:53 am
I made this cake over the weekend for my grandmother’s birthday, and she absolutely LOVED it! More than one person at the party told me it was the best cake they had ever eaten! As an extreme chocoholic, I was a bit sad that she requested a cake that wasn’t chocolate, but I didn’t miss it one bit! The icing was wonderfully delicious, the cake was fluffy but moist. Just perfect! I will definitely be making this one again soon. Thanks so much for all the time and energy you put into making your blog so wonderful. It always brightens my day to see that you have a new post!
February 14th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Oooo, this sounds right up my alley1 We’re not fans of chocolate but don’t mind some white. Thanks for passig this beauty along!
~ingrid
February 18th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
Made this cake tonight and it was wonderful! Everyone loved it. My brother even took a big chunk home and he’s not a big sweet eater. Will definitely be making again!
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 am
It looks great and sounds delicious… so it must be!
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:38 pm
OMG! I made this cake last weekend and it was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!! We are now addicts!
March 5th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Amazing, what I wouldn’t give for a little tub of that frosting with me at work right now…just a little taste every few minutes to get me through this Friday!
March 5th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
wowwww!! this looks to die forrrr!! I wanna eat my laptop right now! but I don’t see where the recipe is.. please can you share it with ussss?
March 6th, 2010 at 8:29 am
calabaza_azul, the recipe link is above the top picture. Enjoy!
March 10th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Love this recipe.
March 16th, 2010 at 1:29 am
Wow, this looks amazing! I can’t believe I’ve never seen this recipe before.
Thanks for posting.
Kira
http://www.saturday-chef.blogspot.com
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:56 am
this looks amazing – just like everything else on your site
June 9th, 2010 at 11:19 am
i see now, with toasted pecans – sorry for not reading more carefully
June 11th, 2010 at 3:03 am
i made this cake – excellent, nice change from chocolate cakes. the white chocolate flavor really comes thru in the cake. thanks for posting the recipe
August 14th, 2010 at 8:14 am
ive never heard of butter pecan cake it looks good
March 28th, 2011 at 6:32 am
I made this cake with 3 layers and it turned out fantastic. Very sweet and rich but good and so pretty.
April 5th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
What a perfect dessert for celebrating National Pecan Month, which just happens to be in April!
Thank you so much for sharing…you have a delicious looking blog:)
September 21st, 2011 at 7:12 pm
The BEST cake I have ever made! Thanks for the recipe.
July 23rd, 2012 at 12:45 am
there are so many cake recipes that we can choose from. my favorite are always those recipes that have chocolate in it. .”;”`Warmest regards
December 2nd, 2012 at 2:58 am
I love to bake some cake recipes because they taste yummy.^
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March 11th, 2013 at 8:20 am
Should this recipe have any salt in it? I just noticed that it doesn’t seem to have any.
Thanks!
March 11th, 2013 at 9:32 am
Sarah, the recipe is correct – no salt.
March 24th, 2013 at 12:08 am
I made this cake today for my moms bday…the frosting was to die for but the cake came out firm more like pound cake with no fluff. Was it suppose to turn out that way? I followed the recipe exactly. Not sure what went wrong
March 24th, 2013 at 8:57 am
Tiffany, it’s a fairly sturdy cake. If yours was just dense, it’s fine. If it was tough, then the batter may have been overmixed.
April 9th, 2013 at 1:12 am
Made this for my husband’s birthday today. One word: perfect. Thank you for sharing this!